DUO TO HAVE THEIR DAY IN COURT

MBABANE - Self-confessed ‘commander’ of the Solidarity Forces Thabo Kunene and Sibusiso Nkomonye will soon have their day in court.

This is so because the prosecution has moved an application before Chief Justice (CJ) Bheki Maphalala, where it is seeking an order for the indictment of the duo at the High Court. The application, which was moved in terms of Section 88 bis of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, was filed by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lomvula Hlophe.  Section 88 bis (1) stipulates that: “The chief justice may, on an ex parte application made to him in chambers by the director of public prosecutions and on being satisfied that it is in the interests of the administration of justice so to do, direct that any person accused of having committed any offence shall be tried summarily in the High Court without a preparatory examination having been instituted against him.”

Order

Upon granting the order by the chief justice, the accused persons are called for a pretrial conference. A pretrial conference or pretrial review, is a hearing prior to trial, which all parties involved in the trial attempt to determine the issues, laws, or facts matter, before the court trial. It will be during the pretrial conference where they will indicate how they are going to plead and also disclose the name of witnesses they intend to call.  The Crown, on the other hand, also discloses the number of witnesses it will parade to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused persons. The duo is currently self-represented. Kunene and his co-accused, Nkomonye, are facing 43 charges of allegedly contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act.  The charges include six murders, 17 attempted murder, nine of malicious damage to property, two counts of arson. The accused persons, as per the charge sheet, also had a hand in the murder of a warder Mike Mthethwa, murder of Zandondo Chief Mahloma, shooting at the homestead of the CJ and murder of law enforcement personnel.

Evidence

In the summary of evidence that was presented in court yesterday, the prosecution submitted that during the month of June 2021, there was a civil unrest in the country.  The Crown went on to submit that during the unrest, the government and most of emaSwati had their properties seriously damaged and or burnt, and lives were lost and some injured. “A group of people who called themselves ‘underground solidarity forces ‘emerged’. The attacks were targeted mainly to the armed forces, judicial officers, prosecutors, traditional authorities, regiments, Members of Parliament (MPs) and the public,” submitted the Crown. It was further the submission of the prosecution, that on July 25 of the same year, Kunene, who introduced himself as a ‘commander’ of the solidarity forces and at times referred to himself as a member of the solidarity forces, made a number of instigating, threatening and intimidating statements.

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